TONY Blair insisted yesterday that he was right to argue the case for military action against Iraq and admitted for the first time that he was wrong to intervene in the politics of Wales.

The Prime Minister told delegates at the Welsh Labour Conference in Swansea that he had misjudged First Minister Rhodri Morgan and heaped praise on the man he once tried to prevent from becoming leader of the National Assembly.

He said, "This may not be the time to be casting doubt about my own judgment but I have to say Rhodri Morgan has proved to be an absolutely wonderful leader."

He told delegates he was not wrong, however, about the threat posed by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and warned that failure to take action against rogue states and terrorist groups threatened to plunge the world into a living nightmare.

Looking strained and clearly showing the first signs of a cold, Mr Blair delivered a powerful and personal speech in defence of his defiant stance against Iraq.

He told delegates how a "gnawing anxiety" about the threat of international terrorism became a conviction that action had to be taken after the September 11 atrocity.

And he gave one of the strongest hints to date that he would be prepared to back a United States-led coalition in action even if the United Nations failed to support a second resolution. He said, "I passionately want this resolved through the UN. Unilateralism is the very opposite of the approach we have sought and argued for but that is why multilateralism has to be the means of achieving our objective, not the means of avoiding its achievement."

After Mr Blair's speech Labour MPs, who delivered a damaging blow to Mr Blair on Wednesday night through their historic Commons rebellion, remained deeply divided over his stance.